I thought this was Andy Borowitz doing a riff, but damn, this is in the New York Times. Talk about a double take bright and early on a Friday morning. This is how we end what has been an especially insane week, with the Govenor of America’s largest state drawing a line in the sand on America’s largest political propaganda organ. Good for you Governor Newsom. Give ’em hell.
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California sued Fox News on Friday, accusing the network of defaming him in its coverage of a phone call he had with President Trump this month.
The suit, filed in Delaware, where Fox News is incorporated, seeks damages of at least $787 million and a court order prohibiting Fox from broadcasting or posting segments that mistakenly say Mr. Newsom lied about his call with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Newsom has adopted an increasingly combative approach with the president since Mr. Trump sent military troops to Los Angeles this month amid his administration’s immigration crackdown. The governor, a Democrat, is taking a page from the president by suing a news media outlet over coverage.
Mr. Newsom’s lawyers also sent Fox News a letter demanding a formal retraction and an on-air apology from Jesse Watters, a host who said on his show that Mr. Newsom had lied about the call with the president. If those conditions are met, the letter states, Mr. Newsom will dismiss the lawsuit. […]
“If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump’s behalf, it should face consequences — just like it did in the Dominion case,” Mr. Newsom said in a statement. “I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet.”
The allegations at the heart of the lawsuit stem from volleys between Mr. Newsom and Mr. Trump after the president invoked a rarely used federal statute to seize control of the California National Guard over the governor’s objections to respond to protests against federal immigration raids.
The two leaders spoke by phone late at night on June 6 in California, which was after 1 a.m. June 7 on the East Coast, according to Mr. Newsom and a cellphone record provided by Mr. Trump. The president activated the National Guard less than 24 hours after the call.
Mr. Newsom posted a video clip of the comment on social media and said, “There was no call. Not even a voicemail. Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to.”
The post, according to the governor’s lawsuit, was written to correct Mr. Trump’s claim that they spoke “a day ago.”
In response, Mr. Trump gave Fox News screenshots of his phone log showing the original call with Mr. Newsom that took place late on June 6 Pacific Daylight Time and early on June 7 Eastern Daylight Time.
In covering the sequence of events, Mr. Newsom alleges, Fox News made deceptive video edits and false statements that concealed that Mr. Trump said the leaders had spoken “a day ago.” Instead, he alleges, the network framed Mr. Trump’s call log as proof that Mr. Newsom had been dishonest when it showed that Mr. Trump was incorrect about when the call took place.
“Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him?” Mr. Watters said on his show, according to the lawsuit, which includes an image of a chyron stating, “Gavin Lied About Trump’s Call.”
Trump is a pathological liar and Fox News hosts lie for a living. This is scarcely new information. I think it behooves Fox to settle on these simple and inexpensive terms. Who knows, maybe they will decide to go the distance and spend all kinds of money. In its own way, this could be a landmark. Newsom is demanding accountability from Fox News and now is the time to do so, with CNN standing up to Trump. I wonder what, if anything, the New York Times will do?
No reasonable person would believe anything they hear on Fox News. But Fox is constantly polling their viewers to see if they believe their latest lies. Then they go a step further, expanding the lie. Welcome to the age of unreason.